The US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson: ‘Clearly the level of spending that the state department has been undertaking, particularly in this past year, is simply no sustainable.’
Photograph: Pool/Reuters

Donald Trump’s budget blueprint would slash funding for the state department and foreign aid in a further sign that America stands to dramatically reduce its non-military role in the world under the new president’s watch.

The proposal, released by the White House on Thursday, would cut the total for the state department and the United States Agency for International Development (USAid) by 28% in 2018. The reduction would mean that the two agencies overseeing diplomacy and foreign assistance would shrink by a combined total of $25.6bn – a $10.1bn reduction from the previous year.

The US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, defended the cuts as a necessary correction to a “historically high” budget that had grown to address conflicts abroad and disaster aid.

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“We are going to construct a way forward that allows us to be much more effective, much more efficient and be able to do a lot with fewer dollars.”

The budget outline represents an effort by Trump to follow through on the “America first” theme of his campaign – a phrase denounced by the Anti-Defamation League for its links to 1940s Nazi sympathisers.

But the rollback of diplomatic, international aid and domestic programs is likely to face stiff opposition in the US Congress. Lawmakers in Washington from both parties have declared several components of the budget to be non-starters.

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Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate majority leader, told reporters last month his chamber would not pass a budget with steep cuts to the State Department and USAid.

Trump’s proposal appeared influenced by the nationalist voices in his administration such as his chief strategist, former Breitbart News executive Steve Bannon, who has called for the “deconstruction of the administrative state”.

The proposal includes a $54bn hike in defense spending, an increase of about 10%, as part of the overall $1.1tn budget outline.

The budget would also gut several United Nations programs, taking an axe in particular to UN agreements to curtail climate change and peacekeeping missions.

Under the administration’s proposal, the US would pledge not to pay for more than 25% of the costs of international peacekeeping. Trump has complained that the US government contributes a disproportionate amount to the UN budget.

Nikki Haley, Trump’s ambassador to the UN, has echoed Trump’s view that America should re-evaluate its 22% contribution to the international body’s regular budget. But she has rejected a “slash and burn” approach to cutting spending.

Trump’s budget blueprint also scales back funding for the World Bank by $650m.

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Humanitarian workers said the budget validated their fears that the administration did not place a high value on US assistance to the global poor.

A letter signed by more than 100 faith leaders on Thursday urged congressional leaders to protect the aid budget, telling them: “At a time when we’re especially security conscious, the international affairs budget is crucial to demonstrating our values to the world, building friendships with other nations, and lowering security risks around the world.”

David Miliband, chief executive of the International Rescue Committee, described the proposed cuts to US aid as “counterproductive, misguided and dangerous”.

More than 120 retired US generals and admirals last month urged lawmakers in a letter to fully fund diplomacy and foreign aid, arguing the functions were “critical to keeping America safe”.

Efforts to chip away at foreign aid and the scope of the state department are nonetheless likely to hit bipartisan opposition from lawmakers in Congress.

Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the more prominent Republican voices on foreign affairs, said such a budget would be “dead on arrival”.

“It’s not going to happen. It would be a disaster,” Graham told reporters last month when the proposed cuts to the state department were first floated.

“What’s most disturbing about the cut in the state department’s budget, it shows a lack of understanding.”

Florida senator Marco Rubio, a member of the Senate foreign relations committee, spoke out at the time against slashing foreign aid, noting it accounts for less than 1% of US spending.

“I think that gets to the fundamental question of what kind of a country do we want to be?” Rubio said in a speech on the Senate floor.

Spending for Trump’s proposed budget would go into effect on 1 October, while the budget approved under Barack Obama is set to expire on 28 April. Congress is expected to pass a short-term resolution to keep the federal government funded through 30 September, leaving more time to debate a longer-term budget for the coming fiscal year.